Map awareness, 8. A very useful skill to have but if you are not able to react to the situation in a tactical way then it makes the skill somewhat pointless. Being able to pay attention to the map is good, being able to then react to your the situation on the map properly is better.

Tank knowledge, 7. Useful but not necessary, if you have a good knowledge of weak spots in general and are able to have a rough knowledge of most tanks reload times that’s good enough I would say. The main thing that can help is being able to look at a enemy tank and being able to tell which package they have.

Want to do good, 7. It can help if you play with the mindset of wanting to do good every game. However that can be more of a hindrance, if you are not doing as well as you would like, or if you set your sights too high, you will probably just start getting frustrated and that will lead to worse gameplay most of the time. I would say it’s good, but make sure to set your goals/standards to an achievable level.

Tank control, 8. Definitely a very useful skill. If you can confidently and fluidly control your tank without really having to think about it then I’d say your definitely a good player.

Tactical Analysis, 10. One of the most important skills, being able to respond well to the situation your in to effect your game in the best way possible is a key skill to being a good player. Especially with repositioning.

Long time player, 3. Just relying on long term experience will only get you so far.

Tank election, 6. Not really much to say about this one.

Team player, 5. Whilst being able to play with your team effectively is good, relying on your team is not so good. If you are going into situations and are relying on your team to help you if you want to come out on top, I would say you need to rethink how you enter those situations.

Add-ons, 1. They don’t really help you become a good player, skill is more important.

Self control, 10. Very important skill that arguably separates the good players from the great. If you can handle a situation in a calm and tactical manner, even when things are going against you, reacting in a way that isn’t rash or stupid as soon as [edited]hits the fan, I would say your definitely a good player.

I'm not a good player most of the time so wasn't able to participate in the poll since it's directed at players who think they are good.

Since i'm not a good Wot player that does beg the question of what kind of player am I and I suppose if Good is the Opposite of Evil then I probably fit the borderline Evil player category.

I think you are overthinking this a bit too much. You don't really need to be a good player to have an opinion of what makes a good player. I don't play basketball, but I can have an understanding of what a person needs to do to be a good basketball player.

I think you are overthinking this a bit too much. You don't really need to be a good player to have an opinion of what makes a good player. I don't play basketball, but I can have an understanding of what a person needs to do to be a good basketball player.

good point and i would hope map awareness would help improve some of the other qualities.

1. Understand game mechanics intimately. They understand camo mechanics. They understand shell type vs. armor profile mechanics. They understand maximizing armor mechanics. And they are constantly exercising their knowledge to get the most out of their tanks.

2. Understand maps intimately. They know all the best places to go. They know where to double bush. The know every bump and crevice that gives an advantage.

3. Excellent situational awareness. Like great chess players, they are constantly thinking through many likely future possible variations as the battle evolves. They adapt fast and they out-think their opponents.

I’ve realized I don’t have what it takes to play at their level. But I appreciate their gameplay.

To me, as with most things in life, mentality is the most important. The day you say “okay I don’t want to be any better” is the day you stop improving. I play every game to win, and to be top of my team ranking, bottom tier or not, and that makes me extremely salty at times even to my clanmates, but that’s me.

The next things are soft skills - keep calm, have a plan; and then the hard skills to execute. Teamwork only matters with platoon and once out of 100 games when you get along with a friendly who knows what he / she is doing.

Tank selected doesn’t matter to me, I play almost all non-arty lines and most tanks I have I just play the first win every day. Premium days and other add-ons can help but a credit card won’t directly make someone become good.

Other than my first couple of tanks, I have never been a bad player at this game. Most of the initial skill comes from knowledge of mechanics of the game and I already had watched videos and read the articles on how to play the tanks I chose. That being said, I have improved drastically over time, a lot of that from playing with better players and adapting the things that work to my own play style.

Map Awareness: Overrated in a lot of cases, the general strategy on most maps for a good player is to go to a strong spot in the middle of the map initially and rotate where you’re needed. Easier said than done and requires general knowledge of how maps flow. That being said, it mainly separates the good from the great rather than the bad from the good.

Tank knowledge: Critically important to know, but easy to achieve. You need to know the weak spots, reload speeds, camo values, view ranges of every tank that you face or have a general sense of what they can do so that you can make the right choice.

Commitment to excel: Not important on a game to game basis, but important for longer term improvement

Command on tank controls: hard to hit something if can’t aim properly. Need to be able to use your tank properly and know how to lead shots and shoot in general.

Tactical analysis with immediate mitigation (repositioning, assist, tracking, spotting): Kind of blends in with tank knowledge and map awareness. Necessary to learn but difficult to achieve. Mostly an experience based skill since it can’t really be taught.

Intuitive experience of the game (Long time player, instinct): important in short term (0-9000 battles) but after that, it is more player choice if they want to take the time learning every tank and map and analyzing their own gameplay to see how they can improve. Every good player has that moment at a different point. Some it will be at 5k battles, others at 20k

Tank selection: Certain tanks help you learn the mechanics better, but good players will do well in every tank in the game, just some better than others

Team Player: Almost irrelevant. For really good players, the best play you can make is keeping your gun working as long as possible. For great players, sacrificing a teammate to live yourself is the best path towards victory since a great player is worth 2-3 greenies on average

Add-ons to get an edge: I use about ½ premium ammo and rations in all of my tanks (crews I don’t really count because you get those over time). Every percentage point matters as far as how well you perform. It’s a fair mechanic available to everyone and with the free prem tanks, it is not hard to get the silver if you’re willing to spend the time playing them. It doesn’t turn you from bad to good but it helps you reach your ceiling

Self control: Tilt matters and is a thing. It is ok to get mad but don’t play mad because you make stupid mistakes. I think this is out of place on this list because it really doesn’t matter as far as skill goes. It’s the same as saying don’t play while drunk. Obvious when you think about it

Hmmm... confused by use of "select in decreasing order of importance." Typically read that as #1 is most important and #10 is least important, especially as you have #1 at the top and #10 at the bottom of choices. Poll may be fatally flawed with mine and other like minded entries. Ultimately though, I think part of this is a reflection of the tanker and their perceived strengths and weaknesses.

My top ten--with #1 being most important:

1) Self-control (I equated this to patience) I'm good when I maintain it, bad when I lose it.

2) Tactical analysis (I do well when I recognize a bad situation earlier, do poorly when I moved too late or tried to be heroic) I see others not capitalizing on situations often whether an overmatch, reload, or poor positioning. This has been mitigated for some by the Targeted!

3) Tank knowledge (just felt this was 2b really--calculating the percentages of RNG (bounce vs pen) so to speak--and understanding the armor angling)

4) Map awareness (2c?)

5) Add-ons (honestly just mitigates RNG)

6) Tank selection (a tank can save you from yourself, but plenty of people still can't)

7) Tank controls (I can barely drive my tank half the time, and RB takes some of the weakness away--without RB this would be higher)

8) Commitment (maybe this should be higher but I don't care about a lot of tanks I am grinding and still do well--just play for fun quite a bit)

9) Long term player instinct (not sure what these means except knowledge through experience--most of #2, 3, 4 come from that I suppose)

10) Teamplay (coordination rarely happens, teammates get me killed because I try and help them particularly when they lack #2, 3, 4--platoons are quite good though so this is a: it depends)

I played a few games this morning and was rather disgusted by how accurate my first post in this thread was. Was in my STB on whatever terrible desert map, and was doing extremely well, even had a somewhat competent team. Of course after a long, hard fought battle I'm low on health with only a trio of reds left and most of my team still alive.

I didn't do anything wrong like charging in for any last minute kills or anything, I was in deep cover, but blessed be RNG for making none of that matter as a WfflE-100 snap shots me to death from halfway across the map while he's in full reverse and rotating his turret. Load of bullcrap is what this game is.

Basic things actually. In the game things like waiting for the reticle to close before shooting, aiming at weak spots, leading the target, etc. RNG still comes into play but it’s minimized as much as you can. This is what a skilled played will do. Less skilled players will take full circle shots, rely on auto aim, shoot center mass, etc. They’re basically putting a coin in the RNG slot machine and hoping for the best. Sure it works out sometimes but not as often or consistently as the more skilled player.

I hope to one day be wealthy enough to be considered eccentric rather than just plain nuts.

Basic things actually. In the game things like waiting for the reticle to close before shooting, aiming at weak spots, leading the target, etc. RNG still comes into play but it’s minimized as much as you can. This is what a skilled played will do. Less skilled players will take full circle shots, rely on auto aim, shoot center mass, etc. They’re basically putting a coin in the RNG slot machine and hoping for the best. Sure it works out sometimes but not as often or consistently as the more skilled player.

So you're saying I'm screwed.

I do all of that and my shots still hit the dirt, hit tracks, auto bounce, miss completely, or ghost. Weird stuff too, like aiming at an IS-M that backed up a hill so his top plate is perpendicular to me, nullifying the slope, and my shot somehow only hitting his gun for module damage. What are the odds?

I think you are overthinking this a bit too much. You don't really need to be a good player to have an opinion of what makes a good player. I don't play basketball, but I can have an understanding of what a person needs to do to be a good basketball player.

I understand what you are saying and agree with not having to be a good player to be able to recognise and identify traits which are found in those who are

but I didn't really overthink things. to answer the poll as it is asked, one needs to identify as a good player..

because

the poll question being phrased, " I am good at WoT because:" is directed at those who are good at WoT and the answers relate directly to respondents direct game play with the inclusion of "I"

I think being able to learn and exploit map characteristics can help considerably on some maps. Especially when it comes to non destructible but semi transparent and thin objects.

Some areas which I struggle with.

The maps tend to be coloured top down views which don't provide any real topological information and I find it difficult to identify lines of site, traversable routes, a sense of water depth or even gain a sense of scale.

The maps tend to be full of indestructible objects and destructible objects as well as traversable slopes and non traversable slopes. There's nothing that I can see which differentiates - trial and error but getting to know which is which is pretty useful.

There's nothing which assists me with knowing how much of a bush or shrub will camouflage me, I have a basic understanding of the spotting mechanic but just because parts of my tank look covered, doesn't mean they are. . I still don't know what bamboo provides camouflage and what bamboo doesn't on some of the Asian themed maps.

To me, as with most things in life, mentality is the most important. The day you say “okay I don’t want to be any better” is the day you stop improving.

Identifying direct improvement for ones self is pretty difficult because of the wide variability of battle scenarios and ever shifting meta. Was it me or was it my unskilled crew which now has 7 skills/perks and allows just that little bit more relative to others in the same vehicle or am I encountering lesser opposition more regularly?